Andreas and that HW thingie...

From: Rick Meints <RMEINTS_at_ford.com>
Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2000 17:30:19 +0000


Andreas makes a solid argument for making Glorantha more accessable. I agree with that 100%. The more the merrier.

Discussing the Hero Wars MECHANICS on this digest has never been encouraged by the developers, and has often been downright mooted with statements akin to "the rules have changed since you read them" or "that's not what the latest draft is like", or other similar "you don't know what you're talking about" comments. I understand the developers concerns over the futility of trying to argue about a changing rules system, but that mostly misses the core point of the questions being asked by the 99% of us (me included) that don't really know what the new Hero Wars system will be like: we want to stay engaged or become engaged in exploring the gaming world of Glorantha - and the rules help make that possible.

Thus, I'll brave the storm and try to give them my take on the upcoming (still in playtest) rules:

  1. HW is a rules-light storytelling game.
  2. Gone or greatly simplified are character stats, armor points, hit locations and 99% of the previous RQ number crunching.
  3. The closest thing to a numbers game are the general skills that the Player character possesses. These are things like: Close Combat, Storm Magic, Cover Tracks, Stare Down Men, Death Gaze, and the like.
  4. Combat is now generally referred to as a contest. One person pits the skill of their choice against the skill of their opponent. This is a little like an opposed roll in Pendragon.
  5. Simple actions are just you rolling against your skill. An example of this would be running up to a horse and jumping into the saddle, or climbing a wall. Every skill is measured from 2 to 19. The lower the number the better. You have to roll equal to or below your skill to succeed. A roll of 1 is great, and a roll of 20 is bad most of the time.
  6. Success is measured by having it fall into four categories: (The terms here have probably changed in the actual rules, but the concept is still valid for an overview) FUMBLE: real bad stuff happens to you FAIL: you're hurt, but still in there SUCCEED: you've got the upper hand CRITICAL: real bad stuff happens to your opponent
  7. To make contests and actions scalable, so you can either play a hick from the sticks or Cragspider, they have added the concept of mastery of a skill. This is represented with the enigmatic "W" (as in 15WWW) in many people's posts here. Each W is a mastery rune, which looks way cooler if you use the rune font when typing it out. Each level of mastery lets you bump up your CATEGORY of success by one level. Thus, if I have 15WWW and roll a 20, normally giving me a fumble, I use my three levels of mastery to make it a critical. Really powerful types can have more than 3 levels of mastery, so when they fight each other they partially cancel out, such as a 3W versus 15WW ends up being 3 versus 15W.
  8. All abilities are modified by your followers, magic, and many other things. Worshippers often pool their points together to achive some big effects.
  9. The experience system is very simple, yet effective, and rewards storytelling and plot advancement instead of rolling.
  10. Glorantha as a mythic and magical world is 1000% more defined. You can heroquest, become a god, or be a farmer worshipping in the mud to bless his crops, all using the same system.

All of the above is a vast simplification of the rules, and gives you no idea of what 90% of the rule books are all about, which is the history, background and mythic depth of Glorantha. Glorantha will be far more digestible and playable.

Also, I like discussing Onslaught and the way he does and does not fit into a heroic mold, especially when it comes to emulating his god in all his aspects. I also find debating his Hero Wars statistics to be a waste of bandwidth. I put the "can Onslaught kill Harrek or Jar Eel or Argrath" debate into the same category of "my dad can beat up your dad" type of arguments, so I'll leave that topic alone.

Plus, since I'm a shameless collector and have a wide variety of things to sell, contact me if there is anything RQ2 you are looking to purchase. A list is on the website listed below.

Lastly, get a great Hero Wars Experience by coming to Convulsion 2000 this July. check out our website:
http://ourworld.cs.com/rjmeints/news.htm

Enjoy.
Rick


End of The Glorantha Digest V7 #360


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